in syria, romney would get the rebels heavy weapons, despite the administration's fear they will end up in the hands of al qaeda. and romney claimed he would be tougher on iran about nuclear weapons. >> this is a dangerous situation. >> reporter: romney said president obama's making it more dangerous by resisting israeli prime minister netanyahu's apparent willingness to attack iranian nuke plants. >> i know the president hopes for a safer, freer, and more pros pous middle east, along with us. i share this hope. but hope is not a strategy. >> reporter: romney's remarks, said one expert, are not a strategy. >> he tried to sound very tough in his critique of barack obama today. however, those are mostly rhetorical differences on some of those key foreign policy issues as opposed to actual new tough policies. >> reporter: the president fired back in an ad to run in virginia. >> reckless, amateurish, that's what news media and fellow republicans called mitt romney's gaf gaffe. >> reporter: barack obama himself today publicly ignored mitt romney's speech. the president sent out former sec